This invention relates to a pneumatic tire having elastomeric fillers in edge portions near the beads for the purpose of providing not only improved controllability and stability but also a good ride.
In recent automobiles, radial-ply tires are increasingly taking the place of the traditional bias-ply tires to meet the demand for better controllability and stability at high speeds and longer durability. In the meantime the turning and road-holding performance of radial-ply tires has been further improved by increasing the stiffness in the belted region and also in the bead regions to thereby enhance a side force at any given steering angle. However, it is natural that the tires improved in such a manner give rather a rough ride.
Of course some measures have been taken to prevent significant degradation of the ride comfort of high-performance tires, and it has been accepted as a favorable measure to lower the modulus of elasticity of the side walls of the tires. Nowadays, however, it is difficult to maintain the ride comfort at a satisfactory level by such a method, because in the current tires designed so as to make a contribution to the improvement in the fuel consumption the shock absorbing effect of each component has considerably lowered. In the present situation, it is almost inevitable to sacrifice the controllability or stability of tires to some extent for maintaining the ride comfort at a tolerable level.